From abcnews.com "Hours before his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as president, President Obama delivered some tough love to African leaders, urging them to get their houses in order so they can better provide for their citizens. In a meeting this morning with the leaders of Egypt, Algeria, Senegal, Nigeria, Libya and Ethiopia, Obama spoke about his personal connections to both Africa and poverty, and challenged the leaders to set prioritiesfor combating poverty and hunger. According to a top White House aide, 'You could have heard a pin drop.' [...] "The point I was making was that my father traveled to the United States ...
Since switching to this latest template, I haven't taken the opportunity to talk about the random videos you see on the right sidebar. This week's featured video is of the living baseball legend, Mamie "Peanut" Johnson. Taken from the website of the Negro League Baseball Players Association (NLBPA) Born: Sept 27, 1935 Right-handed pitcher Indianapolis Clowns 1953-55 Mamie, who along with Connie Morgan and Toni Stone, was one of three women to play in the Negro leagues. Mamie Johnson, the daughter of Gentry Harrison and Della Belton Havelow, was born on September 27, 1935, in Ridgeway, South Carolina. When she was only seven years old, ...
For the past year or so I have noticed a steep incline in the amount of videos that are being uploaded by our sistahs instructing other Black women from everything from makeup trends to how to sew in a weave. On the home front I can tell you that my wife has spent numerous hours either at the kitchen table or curled up on our bed learning new ways to style her hair or find out the latest trends on hair braiding. Personally I find this trend very interesting because I can see it at some point developing into an ...
Matthew 7:1 is one of the most quoted scriptures in the Bible these days. Even people who do not subscribe to the teachings of the Bible will quickly whip out that passage of scripture and use it as a speed pass to cancel out any criticisms regarding their moral failings. The very Bible that most people today try to dismiss as "out of date", not relative for today, or not to be taken literally is the same Bible these individuals use to deflect criticism of their behavior. Now let's read versus 1 and 2. "Do not judge, or you too will be ...
History found Records of freed Va. slaves placed online History possibly lost (suburbanchicagonews.com) "A property once covered in unique objets d'art and so renowned even the Smithsonian Institution took notice now is slated for demolition. Kane County officials this week took further steps toward tearing down the long-abandoned African-American Heritage Museum and Black Veterans Archives in Aurora Township by approving an application to the Circuit Court for demolition of 'dangerous and/or unsafe building.' 'This is the very beginning stage' of the demolition process, said Mark VanKerkhoff of the county's Development Department. It could be three to four months before the building actually is torn down, ...
I’ve just about had enough of reading about how African-American women, no matter what the treatment, are worse off than Cacausian women when dealing with diseases even if they are treated…somehow, they are worse off! (How would that work for someone like me who is both black and white?) [more...]
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March 23rd, 2005 at 10:44 pm
This was an interesting article.
According to Rick Kittles, PhD (http://www.uic.edu/orgs/uicsymrg/uicsymrg/Rick.html) you can’t take race-based medicine seriously because African Americans are not a homogeneous group. When looking at race based studies, he said you must know what specific group of African Americans the studies are being conducted on because people living in different parts of the country will have different amount of non-African DNA. This is why you need to be very skeptical of race-based drugs/therapy. African Americans are genetically diverse meaning that some of us have 50% African DNA like Halle Berry and some of us have as much as 97% African DNA. He has published some interesting papers about this very issue outlining the diversity in the African American community based on the region of the country you live in. I thought it was interesting that the amount of non-African DNA we had were clustered in regions. If you ever get a chance to hear him talk, it is enlightening.
June 23rd, 2005 at 9:33 am
Re: The First Race-Based Medicine BiDil
Are Black Americans Encountering Another “Tuskegee†Experiment?
I can understand how some medications can be designed for persons who have a very specific genetic background. However, black Americans are not an isolated racial group. To the contrary, black Americans are probably one of the most genetically diverse groups of people who have ever existed.
Black Americans beyond having an eclectic genetic connection to the multiple peoples who inhabit West Africa, many black Americans have both European and Native American ancestry. And let us not fail to mention about blacks immigrating from Africa and the Caribbean to the United States, who become “black Americansâ€Â, once they reach these shores. Are medications made for “black Americans†beneficial to the newest arriving black Americans?
My brother, who is a black American, suffers with idiopathic torsion dystonia, a neurological movement disorder that has its highest incidence among the European Jewry. Many of his doctor’s are baffled that a black man has this rare disease, until they probe for my brother’s known genetic history. Our maternal great grandfather was a German Jew. Many black Americans have similar mixed ethnic identities, although we are socially and self-identified as black Americans.
We must be careful that the development of race based drugs like BiDil is not directed by misguided science. I hope that scientists are not allowing mistaken perceptions of race and pharmaceutical companies their greed to cloud the scientific process, by incorrectly manufacturing and marketing drugs based on race.
Moreover, we must ensure that the black community is not used for 21st Century medical experimentation, like blacks were used in the Tuskeegee experiment.
Benin Dakar
Duluth, GA